2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

The 2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held November 2, 2004. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from Wisconsin.

2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

November 2, 2004

Nominee Russ Feingold Tim Michels Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,632,697 1,301,183 Percentage 55.3% 44.1%

County results Feingold:      40-50%      50–60%      60–70%      80–90% Michels:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Russ Feingold Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Russ Feingold Democratic

Candidates

Democratic

• Russ Feingold, incumbent U.S. Senator[1]

Republican

• Tim Michels, businessman and army veteran[1]
• Robert Welch, State Senator

Libertarian

• Arif Khan, entrepreneur[2]

Independent

• Eugene Hem, perennial candidate and former educator[3]

Campaign

Michels insisted he has more real world experience than Feingold, someone he called an "extreme liberal" who was out of touch with Wisconsin voters.[4] Feingold attacked back by saying that any Republican would be a rubber stamp for President Bush. The incumbent had $2.2 million in the bank, while Michels had already spent $1 million in the primary and had only about $150,000 left.[5]

When the NRSC was convinced in October that Michels had a chance of victory, they pledged $600,000 for him. However, they quickly rescinded this support as a result of negative press garnered by Michels' ads, which were widely viewed as extremely negative and misleading, and due to Feingold's continued large margin over Michels in the polls.[6]

On October 1, a poll showed Feingold leading 52% to 39%.[7] In mid October, another poll showed Feingold winning 48% to 43%. A poll at the end of the month showed him leading 51% to 36%.[8]

Results

General election results[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Russ Feingold (incumbent)	1,632,697	55.35%
	Republican	Tim Michels	1,301,183	44.11%
	Libertarian	Arif Khan	8,367	0.28%
	Independent	Eugene A. Hem	6,662	0.23%
		Write-In Votes	834	0.03%
Total votes			2,949,743	100.00%
	Democratic hold

See also

• 2004 United States Senate election

References

1. "2004 SENATE RACES" (PDF). CBS News. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
2. "In Wisconsin, a Muslim Libertarian for Senate". The Pluralism Project. July 6, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
3. Thoreson, Bridget (October 27, 2004). "Incumbent Feingold faces competition in Senate race". Marquette Wire. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
4. HighBeam
5. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_6caAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y0UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6652,3445599&dq=tim+michels&hl=en
6. Masse, Ryan (October 15, 2004). "Republican committee pulls ads for Michels". The Badger Herald. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
7. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1057665A96950BA6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
8. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PKgaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eEUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6021,4541874&dq=tim+michels+poll&hl=en
9. "2004 Fall General Election results" (PDF). Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. November 2, 2004. Retrieved March 30, 2015.